"I say we go ahead and make the move everyone is in agreement here I don't see why your so against this!" Ashly exclaimed as Don and Emily walked in to the meeting room. It was more a storage room it had poorly made clay bricks stacked up and heald in place by long and thin wooden truncks. The roof was an asorment of wood 'beams' that had clay shingles to stop any rain not that they had had any yet.Andrew who was sitting across from her just shook his head.

"I've already explained my opinion its to dangerous were lucky we made it out of the forest the first time. We know this place now were building up houses and other resources I just think it's a bad idea to abandon our advantage here." As Andrew finished his speach another started.

"I understand your position Andrew but Ashly is right the sooner we leave here the better and im sure Maril feels the same on this matter. Getting access to more diverse samples would be incredibly helpful to our work." Lee said Maril started to nod with him about half way through his speach.

Andrew had to sigh he didn't like the idea but even Than and Jace wanted to go Than because of his pioneering spirit and Jace becuse of similar if not more wimsical reasons. Turning to the new entreaties that would be his only real hope here .

"Wall whats your thoughts on this?"Andrew asked.

"Can we have some context on the argument here?" Don asked as he moved to sit at his stump.

"The problem is that Than and his 'hunters' have found the place that YOU guys said you were looking for only a day or two away and OUR noble leader here is saying he doesn't want to go." Ashly said leering at Andrew who sat across from her.

"And I have already told you why it's a bad idea. Last time we left the clearing in mass we had to fight against a horde of unending bird monsters for at least five hours. The only reason we got out of that situation was because of the medicine waters unbelievable healing power." Andrew glared back as he countered Ashly's statement.

While Andrew and Ashly continued their frankly childish fight Don and Emily turned their attention to Rachal who had stopped taking notes.

"So thoughts how are we holding up here?" Emily asked Rachal who looked up from her notes with a bored expression.

"Not bad our supplies of earth food will hold for a long while and we've already learned we can eat stuff here without dieing so no problem there so far Maril has started to plant seeds she had from earth here but that will take awhile. Lee and his group have already found out everything we cared to know about at this point heck people in his team are already trying to map out constellations." Rachal quickly skimmed through her notes while she talked looking up every now and then to make sure that the two were following.

"Anything else you two want to know?" Rachal asked as she throw them a quizzical glance.

"Yeah how's things been with Andy since the incident?" Emily asked in a low conserned whisper.

"Not sure what you mean by that one if your talking about his writing its... improved... that's the best I can say and if you're talking about him getting his ass kicked by John then I wouldn't know ask him yourself or if you're asking about what people think about it then the answer would be not much no one I talk with really cares too much about Andrew leader or not he's just kinda there people just have to follow the cast leaders they voted for." Rachal said with a shrug "Really though I should be the one asking you these things Emily you are the deputy consular under Ashly so you should know more about this than me."

"Good point but right now i'm more concerned with what Than found what's your thoughts on that matter." Don interrupted the two girls as he gestured at the bickering pair besides him.

"Honestly It would be better if we could compromise if we wait three months before going out to the new area then we could better prepare Andrews main problem is with supplies and reducing injuries while Ashly's concerned about staying in a place that has dangerous wildlife and it of course became an argument and both are being stubborn about it." She sighed as she looked at the two of them. "It would be better if you agreed with Ashly here say what you want about her being an overbearing control freak she's still means well and with what's happened to John recently well let's just say she's more than a bit on edge." Rachal's brow creased in worry as she considered everything she had written down in her notes it was surprising how much easier it is to understand someone when you can read and write down their thoughts.

"Are you sure that's a good idea what if the trek IS dangerous call me heartless but I think our lives are worth more than someone's mental health?" Don asked while shaking his head.

"Don't worry about it Than already sent scouts and they'll be back in two or more days if they say it's safe then we can go and if they don't then we won't what we say here isn't going to decide what we do we just need to say whatever we have to too keep everyone working together." Rachal explained to Don with another shrug.

"Man you make that sound so two faced." Don said with a frown

"That's just politics sometimes you gotta lie to make stubborn people work together It might be unethical but then again there isn't anything ethical in running a country let alone a small group like us." Rachal said as she waved away Don's concerns and went back to disinterestedly reading her notes.

"Ok? but what happens if they don't come back what do we do then?" Don asked but Rachal didn't even bother to look up from her notes while Emily just sighed "Don dear if two people vanish exploring a potentially dangerous area I don't think many people will be wondering why or looking to found out."

Andrew was upset one week it had been decided that they would go in one week and he hated it he knew it was a bad idea he could feel it. It was the same feeling he had when 'IT' had tried to get them to run out alone into the woods the same feeling he got when a bird would spawn but this time it was different this time 'IT' didn't want them to leave and that confused him he could stop it he knew he could he practically owned what little fighting force they had he could force them to stay but then he'd be doing what 'IT' wanted and hed be betraying his friends. But the last time they hadn't done what 'IT' wanted they got attacked by an endless swarm of birds he could still remember them snapping at his feet when they hid in the trees he still saw Kyle's guts after his disembowelment he had to wonder how many almost died in their desperate struggle to get back.

They had been lucky that no one died heck he didn't even know how Kyle even managed to survive they just stiched his guts back in they didn't even have medicine water when they treated him. Actually how was he walking write now It had only been an hour since he had both his fingers dislocated but know he didn't feel any discomfort he didn't even have a bruise and his cuts were gone to but he had had ointment for those did that mean that any form of medical treatment could cure you from a near death state and if simple medicines were that powerful how good was just natural healing?

Andrew started to walk to the flintknapping part of their little camp he had some work to do. Flintknapping was a simple craft in concept that is you smash rocks together to get the shape you want simple right but the reality of it is that its an agonisingly difficult task that took hours to complete hundreds of small cuts and almost nothing that looked good would come out of your effort. Although if he was being honest probably all types of tool making would be that difficult if you didn't know how to do it and didn't have the right tools.

"So how's it coming?" Andrew looked up from his work to look at Don as he sat down next to him taking an inquisitive look at the piece of rock he was hammering at.

"You know Lee has found copper and tin right?" Don asked as Andrew went back to working on his rock.

"I don't think we're going to be making bronze in a week although if we do i guess I could use this as a hammer." Andrew answered as he held up the rounded stone he was using to shape the rock in his hand.

"I thought bronze was cast in clay molds?" Don asked as he started to draw on the ground with a stick. "So it shouldn't really need a stone hammer."

"sigh we'll always need stone tools whetstone, sandpaper, mills well there's a lot of value in trying to learn something besides look at this." Andrew answered as he lifted up his hand and in a quick motion cut his palm.

"WHAT THE FUCK MAN!!" Don yelled and moved to stop the bleeding before Andrew held up his hand to stop him.

"Wait a minute look." Andrew said as he cleaned his palm off on his pants. "See it's already stopped." Andrew explained.

"I'm actually surprised at how powerful our natural healing has become I should have looked into this sooner it's made me a lot less apprehensive about things going forward I don't have to worry about people bleeding to death but there are some other concerns that i have about all this." Andrew said as he looked up at the forest canopy that covered this part of their camp.

"Yeah." Don said as he leaned back and looked up at the green sea above him the two just sat there watching the shifting green occasionally allowed pure sunlight to slip through. Don thought that it was like watching the sun from underwater.

"You know you shouldn't act so impulsively even if you know what will happen doesn't mean I do you almost gave me a heart attack there." Don said as he enjoyed the seen.

"Mmh...sorry." Andrew answered absentmindedly.

"You know it's a good day." Don said with a smile

"Yeah it's too bad that it's so easy to miss it there just isn't much reason to enjoy something that's irrelevant and better things to spend your time on." Andrew answered but stayed still watching the forest.

"Yeah I guess so." Don laughed as he laid down on the ground facing the sky "But that sounds boring so let's just enjoy the moment alright?"

"Alright." Andrew answered with a small chuckle as he relaxed with a sigh after a few moments he groaned "Damn this place is uncomfortable I think there's a root jabbing me here hey do you want to go to a place that has less rocks and stuff." Andrew asked Don but only got snores as an answer.

"Oh come on man don't fall asleep in a place like this!" Andrew complained to a comatose Don now he had to decide if he should wake his friend up to go somewhere else or just accept the less comfortable place.

"Aaaahggh!" Andrew groaned as he gave up and dropped to the ground "Fuck me!"